An English woman in Sicily handling parenthood, corruption and a Sicilian mother-in-law, all at once

A Festival in Noto

Every parish in Sicily has a festival once a year to celebrate the saint in whose honour the church is dedicated.

We happened to be in Noto a good few years back during the festival at the Cathedral, which is dedicated to Saint Nicolas (Basilica Cattedrale di San Nicola). We began the day with the classic Noto breakfast, which is a nice refreshing glass of icy granita (home made sorbet) and a vanilla “brioche” or bread roll.

Oh, and some almond-flour cakes with cherries on top and crushed almond coatings.

The grown-ups needed some coffee as well to get them going, but for the younger generation, sugar was all that was needed.

“What’s that?” we wondered, when we heard some music.

All Sicilian saints’ festivals begin with marching bands, and this was was very loud and very good!

We used our sugar rush to take a dash along side streets, since Daddy knew a shortcut…..

…. and beat them to the cathedral. Some important looking people seemed to have got there before us.

When the procession arrived, we couldn’t believe how many people were there.

They just kept coming and coming. It gave us a chance to admire the stunning Cathedral from the outside.

Eventually everyone was in the cathedral, so we followed them. It was a good job we had some space to run around, seeing as we were still so full of sugar.

There was a special altar with four siver griffins on top, which had taken a walk around town and then safely made it back “home” to its cathedral.

As a matter of fact, there were lots of griffins everywhere in that cathedral.

It was a little bit difficult to sit still during the religious service, but we did manage it.

Afterwards we met a stone carver who explained how he makes animals out of rocks. We asked if he had any griffins? He said not yet, but he was working on one.

It was a very lovely day, and we enjoyed a relaxed and romantic stroll during the afternoon.